[NYTr] Cheney, Rice spar over Iran position - Rumors Are Rice Has Caved

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Continuing saga ... the latest reports all indicate Rice has already
caved in to Cheney's desire for war. We shall see. -NYTr]

NY Times Service via San Fran Chronicle - Sep 16, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/16/MNJMS74AD.DTL

Cheney, Rice spar over Iran position

Bush's speech indicated U.S. may take aggressive tack

by Helene Cooper, New York Times

(09-16) 04:00 PDT Washington--While scrutiny last week focused on the
debate over troop strength, President Bush also used the occasion to
turn up the pressure on Iran, using his speech Thursday to stress the
need to contain Iran as a major reason for the continued U.S. presence
in Iraq.

The language in Bush's speech reflected an intense and continuing
struggle between factions within his administration over how
aggressively to confront Iran. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
been arguing for a continuation of a diplomatic approach, while
officials in Vice President Dick Cheney's office advocate a much
tougher view that seeks to isolate and contain Iran, and to include
greater consideration of a military strike.

Bush's language indicated that the debate, at least for now, might have
tilted toward Cheney. By portraying the battle with Iran as one for
supremacy in the Mideast, Bush turned up the rhetoric another, more
bellicose notch. "If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of
all strains would be emboldened," Bush said. "Iran would benefit from
the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear
weapons and dominate the region."

The tensions between Rice and Cheney have existed for a long time; they
began during the administration's first term, when, as national
security adviser, she had to mediate turf battles between a coalition
of Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, then the secretary of defense, and Colin
Powell, then the secretary of state.

Now, as secretary of state, Rice has increasingly come to reflect the
more diplomatic view advocated by the State Department, which has
pushed for a more restrained tone in U.S. dealings with the world in
general, and Iran in particular.

Cheney and hard-line hawks in his office, however, have become
increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of progress in curbing
Iran's nuclear ambitions, where Rice has advocated a diplomatic
approach.

Allies of Cheney continue to say publicly that the United States should
include regime change in Iran as a viable policy option, and have
argued, privately, that the United States encourage Israel to consider
a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The testimony last week of Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq,
that the diplomatic talks with Iran have done little to restrain what
he called Iran's "malign" influence in Iraq, also fueled the disquiet
in Cheney's office, one administration official said.

The debate between the factions will play out soon in a decision over
whether to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, or a unit of it, a
terrorist organization and subject to increased financial sanctions.

While some White House officials and some members of the vice
president's staff have been pushing to blacklist the entire
Revolutionary Guard, administration officials said, officials at the
State and Treasury departments are pushing for a narrower approach that
would list only the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, or perhaps
only companies and organizations with financial ties to that group. The
designation would make it easier for the United States to block
financial accounts and other assets controlled by the group.

The administration is still pressing ahead with other efforts to turn
up the pressure on Iran. The State Department has asked top officials
from the five other world powers seeking to rein in Tehran's nuclear
ambitions to come to Washington on Sept. 21 for a meeting in which
Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, will
press for stronger U.N. sanctions against Iran.

On Sept. 28, Rice will meet with her counterparts from Europe, Russia
and China to discuss the Iran sanctions issue.

Beyond its nuclear program, Iran has emerged as an increasing source of
trouble for the Bush administration, U.S. officials say, by inflaming
the insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza, where it has
provided military and financial support to the militant Islamic group
Hamas.

In its report to Congress Friday, the administration accused Iran of
providing Shiite militias with training, money and weapons, including
rockets, mortars and explosively formed projectile devices, which the
administration said accounted for an increased percentage of U.S.
combat deaths. The report said that "coalition and Iraqi operations
against these groups, combined with a growing rejection of Shiite
violence by top government of Iraq officials, has led to some progress
in reducing violent attacks from Shiite extremists."

The U.S. military in Iraq still has custody of several Iranian
officials who were detained there on suspicion of involvement in
providing aid to Shiite militias.

Iran's government has denied the charges. Its supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, said Friday that Bush's Mideast policies have failed and
that Bush will one day be put on trial for the "tragedies" he created
in Iraq.

But a belief has been growing in Iran, which administration officials
have pointedly not tried to stem, that the Bush administration is
considering military strikes against Iran. An Israeli air strike in
Syria last week kicked up speculation in the Iranian press that Israel,
in alliance with the United States, was really trying to send a message
to Iran that it could strike Iranian nuclear facilities if it chose to.

"If I were the Iranians, what I'd be freaked out about is that the
other Arab states didn't protest" the air strike, said George
Perkovich, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. "The Arab world nonreaction is a signal to Iran
that Arabs aren't happy with Iran's power and influence, so if the
Israelis want to go and intimidate and violate the airspace of another
Arab state that's an ally of Iran, the other Arab states aren't going
to do anything."

During the talks last week, the United States, France and Britain will
try to get Russia, China and Germany to sign on to a stronger set of
U.N. Security Council sanctions against members of Iran's government.

The sanctions are aimed at getting Tehran to suspend its enrichment of
uranium. The international efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions
have been complicated by the U.S. conflict with Iran in Iraq, which
Russia and some European countries argue should take a backseat to the
nuclear issue.

Despite the brewing tensions, the United States will grant a visa to
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take part in the opening of the U.N.
General Assembly next week, according to the State Department.